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were not sufficiently interested to vote on
the com
position of that Council?
It may be that I have omitted some item which has
caused anxiety or been discussed by the Council during
the year but my function here is to ask the Society for
approval of the Report of the Council. This Report has
dealt with nearly all or if not all of the matters raised
before us and I do not want to bore you with repetition
On a personal note, I would like to thank the many
Bar Associations throughout the country who entertained
me so lavishly and kindly. I hope that my inner feelings
of having made many friends may continue to be true
for the rest of my days.
May I close by expressing the hope that I have not
failed the Society in any of the duties that were imposed
upon me. I tried to do my best for the Society on all
occasions and if I did not succeed it was not because of
want of effort but perhaps because I was not blessed with
the ability of some of my predecessors. I wish to thank
the Council, my Vice-Presidents, Mr. Robert McD.
Taylor and Mr. Eunan McCarron and indeed the entire
profession for the help tendered to me and I will try to
carry out my duties for the remainder of my office at
least as well as I hope I have done heretofore.
The staff of the Society and particularly Mr. Eric
Plunkett deserve a special note of praise. No President,
no matter how capable, could carry on even for a few
days if he had not the helping hand, guiding force and
friendly co-operation of Eric Plunkett of whom it has
been said that he has no thought for anything in his
daily working
life
than the well being of
the Law
Society. He has the co-operation of a loyal and hard
working staff. They will do anything for you any time and
still make you feel that it is a pleasure to do it. They
will pardon me I am sure for not mentioning each
individually by name.
I thank you for your patience.
Messrs John Carrigan, E. O. Shell, J. B.
McGarry, S. V. Crawford, J. J. Nash, Andrew
Curneen, Maurice Kenny, J. V. Buckley, Ernest
Margetson spoke on matters arising from
the
report.
The motion for the adoption of the report was
seconded by Mr. Taylor and carried unanimously.
Thursday 24th November 1966 was appointed
as the date of the next annual general meeting.
Mr. Margetson proposed a vote of thanks to the
President for his valuable services to the Society
during the year which was carried with acclama
tion. The President having replied the proceed
ings terminated.
ADMISSION CEREMONY
On Thursday 25th November, 1965, the Presi
dent presented Certificates of Admission at a
ceremony in
the Society's Library. Addressing
the newly admitted solicitors and their friends
the President said:
Ladies and Gentlemen, one of
the most pleasant
duties that falls to the lot of the President of the Law
Society during his year of office is to present to newly
admitted solicitors their certificates of enrolment and to
welcome them to the profession. It is difficult for a
President to break new ground in this speech of welcome.
What I have to say to you has been said by my prede
cessors on some occasion before but the saving factor
from my point of view is that you have not heard it
before now, at least from me.
It
is
customary
for
the President
to
stress
some
particular aspect of a Solicitors practice or method of
life. I feel that I cannot do better than give you the
advice that above all things you should ensure that you
keep proper accounts particularly of your client's money.
You should start your career by installing a proper set of
books so that you will always be in a position to be able
to ascertain your indebtedness to your clients and at a
moment's notice be ready to give them a full account of
all the money you have in hand for them and be pre
pared to vouch such account with all necessary vouchers.
If you do this and always keep it in the forefront of your
mind there is little possibility of your going astray. I do
not for one moment wish to convey that I have the
remotest idea or fear that you would go astray but it is
an old saying that prevention is better than cure. I feel
that in the past that some unfortunate men who have
fallen by the wayside because of comparatively small
defaults have done so because they failed in this one very
essential aspect of our way of work. You have had the
advantage of a series of lectures on methods of book
keeping and you have shown sufficient proficiency in this
to pass an examination designed to test the way you have
absorbed the instructions imparted to you. Those of us
who are older never had this opportunity and we had to
work out our own salvation. I merely had to answer one
or two questions on book-keeping as part of my Inter
mediate and I fear that if I had not done quite well in
my real property paper that I might not have passed that
examination at the first attempt.
I hope that I always have been and am in a position
to carry out what I said you must always be able to do.
Even if you do not launch out on
the wild seas of
practice on your own behalf it would be well for you to
study working methods of an established practice on this
entire question of keeping books. If you take
a
position
as an assistant or go to work in a family practice, my
remarks still hold good—some day, please God, you
yourself will be a partner or outright owner of a
practice and that is not the point of time for you to
learn how to apply practical methods in dealing with
your clients money. The accounts regulations were not
drawn up just for fun. The wisdom of more than one
generation of solicitors went into the concept of their
being drawn up and promulgated to the profession as
something
that
it was
the bounden duty of all
its
members to observe and maintain carefully.
One more point before I close—the growth of legisla
tion and the changing pattern of Laws nowadays makes
it difficult to keep up to date on all matters. Use every
means in your power to maintain the knowledge you
have acquired. The Council of the Law Society issues
from time to time booklets on current topics and tries in
its
Gazette
so far as it can in that limited journal to
indicate changes in laws and tell the profession where
and when such Acts of Dail or new sets of Rules or
Statutory regulations can be found or were made. Study
these aids closely, join your local Bar Association, attend
its meetings, join the Law Society and follow its work
through its publications and attend any lectures given
by any legal body having the Council's approval.
May I wish you every success in your chosen career
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